Denison freshman brings 'Urban Logger' business to Ohio

Andrew Hughes, an incoming freshman at Denison, launched a tree removal/snow plowing/cabinet making business called Urban Loggers, in Kansas City that he is moving to Granville and Licking County while attending college here. (Photo11: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)Buy Photo

Hughes, a Denison freshman, is in the process of relocating that business from Kansas City, Kansas, where he launched the enterprise last year.

Urban Loggers was born when Hughes’ mother bought a new house with what he describes as “an untamed backyard.”

The quotes she received for clearing all that overgrowth, Hughes said, “were astronomical.”

So, Hughes got a chainsaw and did the job himself.

At that same time, he was working at an organic farm in the Kansas City area, and one day had his chainsaw with him. The owners asked him to clear a tree line. Urban Loggers grew from there.

“I developed my own technique,” he said in an interview on Broadway as the Blues Festival was setting up Sept. 1, and as he was just settling in at Denison. “I’ve always been a self-starter, but I’ve also had mentors along the way.”

By the point it was time for him to leave Kansas for college, Hughes’ business had grown to encompass a tool trailer, a truck, a website and distinctive business cards with a wood-grain motif and logo depicting a cross section of a log.

Although he is still defining his ultimate education-to-career path – possibly something involving or combining business with environmental studies – Hughes said Denison was his ultimate college of choice partly because the university was willing to accommodate his entrepreneurial side venture.

Also, importantly in a village and campus where parking can sometimes pose a challenge, Denison worked with him to provide a space for his truck and trailer. “They moved heaven and earth,” he said of the university.

Hughes said his primary offering, as his business’ name, Urban Loggers (“Affordable, Reliable Property Solutions,”) would indicate, is tree removal.

“I’m not an arborist, and I don’t claim to be be,” Hughes said. “You don’t need that kind of expertise to remove trees. If you call me, I’ll give you a bid. I’ll see if it needs to be climbed. I provide precision falling.”

Back in Kansas City, many of the trees he cut down were eventually transformed into rustic, slab-style benches and tables he handcrafts.

He’s not sure how much of that latter creative work might get done in Ohio, owing to time and available work space for that level of woodcraft.

Hughes has, however, been driving around Licking County since settling in at Denison, and acquainting himself with its tree-filled outlying areas and farms.

Winter, he said, is actually a good time to clear trees, and can even result in some potential cost-savings, he said.

And he will be available to clear snow this coming winter, too.

Despite what would appear to be a full plate, back in Kansas City, another woodworking project is on hold while he pursues his studies at Denison.

Hughes is engaged in what he described as a probably “long-term” project to build his own 12-and-a-half foot boat.

Those interested in contacting Hughes and Urban Loggers can reach him at 913-449-9566, by email at kcurbanloggers@gmail.com or visit his website, www.kcurbanloggers.com.